Some millennials want "Secret Santa" canceled.
A study found that Secret Santa gift exchanges trigger anxiety in many millennials. Dr. Ashley Weinberg, a psychology lecturer at the University of Salford in Manchester, claimed the holiday gift swap triggers anxiety in those who overspend because they don’t want to appear "stingy."
The study from Jobsite found that 26% of millennials admitted to dipping into savings or overdrafting their accounts to fund an office gift. Around 17% reported that they “felt judged” by their co-workers based on the gift they chose to contribute. In total, 78% of millennials felt they contributed “more than they should” to an office party gift compared to 58% of the rest of the workforce.
Nearly 1 in 3 millennials want to see Secret Santa banned. Weinberg explained that anxiety surrounding the gift exchange is one factor pushing millennials to want to give Secret Santa the boot.
“If you've grown up in a world where social media is at your fingertips and those kinds of social judgments are being made fairly constantly, suddenly you're even more aware of what others might be thinking. Naturally, that's going to spill over into all kinds of areas, particularly something that can be a social taboo when you think about maybe not giving, or maybe questioning why people are giving,” Weinberg said.
He added, “I think there can be a bit of that and naturally it does lead to anxiety for a lot of people.”
Weinberg claimed that workplaces can mitigate anxiety on their workers by setting clear guidelines or contributing to their gifting funds.
“Having the chance to share our appreciation of colleagues and to celebrate positive events is really valuable – just as long as this is done fairly,” said Weinberg.
“Workplace organizations can play a positive part in this, whether helping to suggest sensible parameters or even by setting the ball rolling with a contribution to collections for employees.”
The financial burden of Secret Santa exchanges may hit millennials harder because they are the poorest generation of Americans since World War II. Millennials have also been criticized for wanting to ban anxiety causing scenarios, such as Secret Santa, in order to create widely-mocked safe spaces.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...ety-millennials-oppose-workplace-secret-santa
A study found that Secret Santa gift exchanges trigger anxiety in many millennials. Dr. Ashley Weinberg, a psychology lecturer at the University of Salford in Manchester, claimed the holiday gift swap triggers anxiety in those who overspend because they don’t want to appear "stingy."
The study from Jobsite found that 26% of millennials admitted to dipping into savings or overdrafting their accounts to fund an office gift. Around 17% reported that they “felt judged” by their co-workers based on the gift they chose to contribute. In total, 78% of millennials felt they contributed “more than they should” to an office party gift compared to 58% of the rest of the workforce.
Nearly 1 in 3 millennials want to see Secret Santa banned. Weinberg explained that anxiety surrounding the gift exchange is one factor pushing millennials to want to give Secret Santa the boot.
“If you've grown up in a world where social media is at your fingertips and those kinds of social judgments are being made fairly constantly, suddenly you're even more aware of what others might be thinking. Naturally, that's going to spill over into all kinds of areas, particularly something that can be a social taboo when you think about maybe not giving, or maybe questioning why people are giving,” Weinberg said.
He added, “I think there can be a bit of that and naturally it does lead to anxiety for a lot of people.”
Weinberg claimed that workplaces can mitigate anxiety on their workers by setting clear guidelines or contributing to their gifting funds.
“Having the chance to share our appreciation of colleagues and to celebrate positive events is really valuable – just as long as this is done fairly,” said Weinberg.
“Workplace organizations can play a positive part in this, whether helping to suggest sensible parameters or even by setting the ball rolling with a contribution to collections for employees.”
The financial burden of Secret Santa exchanges may hit millennials harder because they are the poorest generation of Americans since World War II. Millennials have also been criticized for wanting to ban anxiety causing scenarios, such as Secret Santa, in order to create widely-mocked safe spaces.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...ety-millennials-oppose-workplace-secret-santa
